One day after suffering an emotional loss to Scotland's defending champion Eve Muirhead in the gold-medal final of the World Junior Championships in Vancouver, Team Canada's Kaitlyn Lawes seemed much happier with the silver medal hanging from her neck.

Lawes had barely missed a come-around tapback that would have given her the winning deuce with the hammer in the 10th end and was so distraught after the loss that she did not want to be interviewed.

"Everyone was coming up to me and it was too heartbreaking to talk about it right away," Lawes said upon arriving home yesterday.

"I was very emotional because it was obviously something that I wanted so bad and to have it just slip away was pretty tough.

"I'm feeling better about it now ... We're second in the world so we can't complain. To see what we've accomplished really means a lot. I'm real proud of those girls."

Those girls were also justifiably proud.

"We won the silver, we didn't lose the gold," said third Jenna Loder, who won the bronze medal with Lawes at last year's worlds. "It was very exciting. We improved from last year so that's even better."

Both second Laryssa Grenkow and lead Breanne Meakin earned silver in their first trip to the worlds.

"We worked hard for this all year and it really was a dream-come-true to play in that gold-medal final," Grenkow said. "Either way, I was proud of the team because we played well all week."

The final could have gone either way.

"Obviously, the result wasn't what we wanted," Meakin said. "Afterwards, it was pretty devastating to not reach the goal. But after it wore off, I'm starting to appreciate the silver a lot more. At the back of my mind, I know we're good ... I'm proud of what we've accomplished."

Lawes will play third for Alberta's Cathy King at this week's Canada Cup.

"It will be fun playing with the women's teams and I'm looking forward to it," said Lawes.

Only Meakin will remain a junior and she has already formed a team for next season.